New York Deli Rye

The famous loaf of Jewish ancestry from the lower-east side, widely enjoyed and eaten with preserved meats such as pastrami. This is a traditional version of the loaf. NY deli style is an easy and friendly way to enjoy rye bread, especially as the open sandwich.

Ingredients

200g Shipton light rye flour

300g Shipton organic no 4 white flour

250g rye leaven (mine was made with 100%wholemeal)

2 teaspoons caraway seeds (optional)

2 teaspoons sea salt.

½ teaspoon Shipton mill’s organic dried yeast.

320g water.

Method

Make a sponge with the yeast and 2 tablespoons of the rye flour and enough of the water to make a thick batter. Set aside for at least an hour… until well active.

In a good-sized bowl, mix the leaven with the water, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Knead the dough for 5 minutes until well developed. It is sticky at first, then becomes more kneadable before becoming sticky again.

If necessary, wet your hands slightly to get some traction, or flour them, and use a bakers scraper (slip) if you have one, to keep lifting and turning the dough….and scraping your hands!

When using a mixer, don’t despair, it will return to a semblance of a dough, which can be hand-rounded at completion of the mixing. It is best to use a bare minimum of flour on the kneading surface, as the dough will become too dry.

Cover with a cotton cloth, place inside a plastic bag in a warm spot and allow to rise /prove for 1 hour.

Re-knead the dough thoroughly and return to the bowl, cover as before and leave for another 1 hour.

At this stage it is well-risen and a bit delicate. Carefully turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface without deflating it. Again, that most useful tool the baker’s scraper (slip) is invaluable here.

Briefly roll the dough into an oblong. Carefully lift it on to a well-oiled tray or use baking paper. Moisten your hands with water and gently form the loaf into a torpedo shape, but not too thin, chunky is better…with nicely rounded ends and a sleek finish. It is important to keep hands moist. Allow the loaf 15 minutes to recover.

Place a bowl of hot water in the pre-heated 250°C oven. Slash the loaf with three diagonal cuts (practice it on an air-loaf), and place in the oven. After 20 minutes, remove the steam-effect and the tray, and bake for another 15 minutes at 220°C. As with other rye breads, this loaf is better the next day.

Just made a couple of loaves, and what a fab result. But I have to admit to a mistake whilst making, I used my basic sourdough starter and added whole meal rye to refresh the night before. I started with 250g and added 125g of water and flour. When coming to mix I added all the leavin, rather than the 250g in the recipe I added it all. The mix has taken this addition quite well giving a light airy loaf with good crumb and crust. I also split rye 50/50 between whole meal and light. This is the best rye loaf I have made as all others have not been very successful , so I am a happy man and look forward to eating. Please give it another well deserved star*******

You could some chopped and lightly cooked onions too - the caraway and onion is a great combination. I agree with the sourdough leaven and yeast combination. I have made a bread similar to this and it was a fantastic sandwich bread; cried out to be made into a Reuben!

I grew up eating this kind of bread, and my thought is that all the proportions are really great, but why not do this one as a sourdough-- i do it this way, and it's really perfect-- the extra sour tastes genuine to me. Poppy seeds on top are nice in addition to the caraway flavour.

It is quite comment to use both leaven and yeast in recipes - Dan Leppard certainly adopts such a methodology in many of his particularly where the flour has a lower gluten content such as rye.
I have actually tried this recipe with and without the yeast. Proved the full sourdough leaven for approximately 6 hours and got a nice spring - it is baking now. Also tried substituting fennel for caraway which imo was a nice alternative.
As regards the leaven,9BCD a quick mathematical check will give an indication of what it was. I always presume in this sort of situation it is a 100% and judging by my experience with this recipe I believe that is the case. Although I always use a slightly lower value starter I simply compensated by addding more water to mix.

furthermore, the phrase '250g Rye Leaven' suggests a leaven made with rye. However the comment in brackets suggests otherwise. If it was made with 100% wholemeal why not call it 100% Wholemeal Leaven??
Confusing or what?